31 days until Indiana basketball tips off their hyped-up 2022-23 season and we now reveal the 31st best player of all-time. This Hoosier that landed right outside of the top 30 was carrying the Indiana basketball program while Bob Knight and the Hoosiers were riding a streak of first round exits in the mid-90’s.
Top 40 Indiana basketball players of all-time
Indiana basketball career stats: 13.7 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 1.5 3PM, 40.8 3P%
Brian Evans currently ranks as 12th on the all-time scoring list for Indiana basketball in school history, with 1,701 total points scored in his four seasons. In his junior and senior seasons combined, Evans averaged 19.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, and shot 40.4 percent from behind the arc.
In his second-to-last NCAA Tournament game of his career, Evans went off for 24 points and four made three-pointers in the first round loss to Missouri in 1995. Though it wasn’t enough for the Hoosiers to advance, Evans showed his true talent and ability in his junior season, and showed what was to come in his epic senior season.
The forward from Terre Haute, Indiana has scored the 12th most total points (658 in 1995-96) in a single season, along with scoring the eighth most total points (399 in 1995-96) in conference play in a single season. Evans also ranks in the top 10 in the following statistical categories in a career in Indiana basketball program history:
Three-point field goals – 186 (tied for 8th)
Three-point field goal attempts – 456 (9th)
Free throw percentage – 80.0% (7th)
True shooting percentage – 57.2% (9th)
After finishing out his senior season averaging 21.2 points and 7.1 rebounds and earning All-Big Ten first team honors and Big Ten Player of the Year, Evans was drafted 27th overall by the Orlando Magic in the 1996 NBA Draft. Though he had a short 3-year NBA career, Evans made quite a lasting impact on the Indiana basketball program prior to the exit of Bob Knight.